Clutch mechanism for ironers



Aug 24, 1937. LA RUE 2,090,686

I CLUTCH MECHANISM FOR IRONERS Filed May 12, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet l H. .F. LA RUE CLUTCH MECHANISM FOR IRONERS 2 Sheets-Shet 2 Filqd May 12, 1956 HARRY I-TLARUE,

Patented Aug. 24, 1937 UNlT'E STTES PATENT OFFICE 3 Claims.

This invention relates to a clutch mechanism for ironers.

An object of the invention is the provision of simple and efiicient clutch means for operating the gearing of an ironer, for placing the same in an operative or inoperative condition.

Another object of the invention is the provision .of simple'and emcient clutch means, easily Inanipulated by the operator, for controlling the movement of the ironing shoe.

A furtherobject of the invention is the provision of simple and eflicient clutch means actuated by the handor limb of the operator for placing the gearing mechanism in an operative or inoperative position.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, my invention comprises certain novel constructions, combinations and arrangements of parts as will be hereinafter fully described, illustrated and the driving means for the gearing.

Figure is a sectional view taken on line 44, Figure 1, and looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken on line 5-5, Figure 2, and looking in the direction of the arrows.

Referring to the drawings by numerals, l designates a frame or support of any desired construction, on which is suitably mounted a gear casing 2. An ironing roller 3 is provided with a shaft l, which shaft extends into the gear casing 2 (Fig. 1). A gear 5 is loosely mountedon shaft 6, within gear casing 2, and on shaft 4 is positioned a spring-pressed clutch member 6. A pin 7, shown by dotted line in Fig. 1, is mounted in a suitable slot, not shown, in shaft 6, and said pin l slidably retains clutch member 6 so that said clutch member revolves with shaft 5.

A horizontal manually operated lever B is mounted on gear casing 2. The inner hook-like end 9 of lever 8 engages the clutch member 6, with its outer grip end it! in position to be engaged by the operator. Therefore, it will be seen that if 55 the operator desires he can move clutch member showing particularly the position of the motor 6 from its meshing position (Fig. 1) with idle gear 5, whereby rotation of roller 3 can be stopped. A clutch yoke H straddles at its upper end the clutch member 6, with its angular downwardlyextending leg 12 in position to be operated by the eccentric ill, fordisengaging clutch member 6 from gear 5, as will behereinafter described.

A suitable motor M is mounted on the frame I (Fig. 3) and is operably connected to the horizontal worm 15, which worm meshes with the worm gear I6. Worm gear I6 is mounted on horizontal shaft ii carried by the gear casing 2. A drive pinion I8 is fixedly secured to shaft l'l within the gear casing 2. This drive pinion is provided with a plurality of pin-receiving apertures 19, any one of which is adapted to receive sliding locking pin 20. t

A shaft 2! (Fig. 1) is suitably supported upon the inner side of gear casing 2 and extends into the idle sleeve 22. Fixedly secured to the outer end of sleeve 22 is the eccentric l3. The locking pin 26 is positioned in eccentric i3 and extends beyond its outer face as clearly seen in Figure 1, ready to enter one of the apertures Ill. The sliding locking pin 23 is fastened upon a supporting pin 23 which pin 23 is rotatably mounted on the upper portion of the rectangular control yoke 2t (Fig. 4). This control yoke 24 is fastened on sleeve 22 by means of pin 25. The yoke 24 is provided with a straight outer face 26 while its ends are of an irregular or double curved structure as clearly seen in Figure 1. At one of the extreme ends of the yoke 24 there is an integral outwardly extending curved lip 21, constituting a cam, by reason of its curved surface 210 while the other end of yoke 26 terminates in an out wardly extending curved finger 28, constituting a cam. This finger 28 is shown engaging the right side of control bar pin 29; the curved surface 21a of lip 21 engages the left side. of pin 29. A coilsprlng 30 has one end seated in socket 3! of yoke 23 and its other end is seated in socket 32 formed in eccentric l3 (Fig. 5). This spring 30, therefore, normally holds finger 28 in contact with the pin 29.

An ironing shoe 33 is carried by the upper section 3 5 of the eccentric pressure arm 35. The lower section 36 (Fig. 2) of pressure arm 35 extends under the eccentric IS. The upper section 34 is provided with a foot portion 31, which has a bolt 38 extending therethrough; said bolt 38 is threaded into the lower section 36. A coil spring 39 is mounted on bolt 38 between foot 31 and the head of the bolt. This affords a suitable yielding or cushioning action of the shoe 88 against the ironing roller 8.

The eccentric I8 is grooved at 48, in which groove is slidabiy mounted a steel band 4|. This band 4i has a clevis 42 secured thereto; this clevis is mounted on the inner end of section 88 of the pressure arm 85.

A knee engaging unit 48 (Fig. 1) is suitably,

mounted on knee control bar 44 and bar 44 is pivotally connected at 45 to the lower end of inverted L-shaped trip 48. The upper end of trip 46 overhangs the horizontal arm 41 which arm 41 is secured to pin 28 and control bar 48 (Fig. 4). The control bar 48 is pivotally mounted at 48 in any suitable manner upon the gear casing 2. A coil spring 58 has one end secured to bar 48 and its other end secured to'lug SI of the gear casing 2. Therefore itwill be seen that when the operator presses on knee unit 48 the bar 44 will be moved to the right, whereby control bar 48 will be pulled down, against the action of spring 50, causing the pin 28 to move down and clear finger 28 of the yoke 24, resulting in spring 88 pivoting the lower end of yoke 24 to the left,

whereupon pin 28 will move into one of the apertures IQ, of drive pinion i8, causing the eccentric to move one-half turn. This movement will raise the outer end of the eccentric pressure arm section 85, and shoe 88 will consequently move away from ironing roller 8. At the same time the eccentric will operate leg l2 of clutch yoke ll, disengaging clutch member 8 from gear 5 and thereby stop rotation of ironing roller 8.

Gear 5 meshes with small pinion 52, which pinion constitutes a part of gear 58. Gear 58 meshes with drive pinion ,l8 so that when the motor is operating the train of gears are operated. However when .clutch member 8 is not meshing with gear 5 roller 8 will not be operated, nor will the eccentric l8 and yoke 24 be operated when locking pin 28 is not meshing with one of the apertures IQ of drive pinion l8.

A finger control 84 is provided, comprising a spring-pressed plunger 55, the lower end of which engages arm 41 to move the outer end of control bar 48 downward, performing the same function as described in connection with the action of the knee control 48 and 44. i

In operation, when the control bar 48 is pushed down the control yoke 24 is released, and pin 28 will enter one of the apertures l8 of the drive pinion l8, causing the-eccentric l8 to make onehalf turn, or until the opposite end of the control yoke comes in contact with the control bar pin 29 which pulls the drive pin side of the yoke 24 to the left and disengages locking pin 28 from drive pinion l8. As soon as pin 28 disengages from drive pinion I8 the eccentric will stop.

One-half turn of the control yoke 24 brings the eccentric up; the other half turn brings it to a down position; either of these two positions being arrived at by depressing the finger control 54 or moving the knee control, as hereinbefore described. When the eccentric i8 moves into the down" position it pushes pressure arm section 88 down and then holds it there, thus bringing the shoe 88 to the roller 8 and holding it. with pressure for ironing. While the eccentric l8 remains in its down" position, clutch yoke or fork ll hangs free and allows the clutch spring of the clutch member 8 to force the clutch member into meshing position, whereby the roller 8 is rotated. when the eccentric i8 moves into the up position, it raises pressure arm section 88 and throws ironing shoe 88 back. from roller 8, and at the same time the eccentric l8 strikes the angular leg l2 of the clutch lever or yoke II, which disengages clutch member 8 and thereby stops rotation of ironing roller 8; when such condition is reached the gears run idle.

While I have described the preferred embodiment of my invention and illustrated the same in the accompanying drawings, certain minor changes or alterations may appear to one skilled in the art to which this invention relates during the extensive manufacture of the same, and I, therefore, reserve the right to make such changes or alterations as shall fairly fall within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a mechanism of the class described, the combination with 'a drive pinion, a driven member at one side of said drive pinion, of a control yoke movably mounted at the side ofsaid driven member, said control yoke provided at each end with a cam surface, said surfaces being on opposite faces ,of said control yoke, a locking pin slidably extendng through said driven member and being adapted to engage said drive pinion, means pivotally connecting said locking pin to said control yoke between its center and one end, and manually-controlled locking means for alternately engaging said cam surfaces for temporarily holding said control yoke and its locking pin in an inoperative position.

2. In a mechanism of the class described, the combination with a drive pinion, a driven member at one side of said drive pinion, of a control yoke movably mounted at one side of said driven member, said yoke provided at its ends with oppositely facing cam surfaces, connecting means extending through said driven member and pivotally fastened to said yoke between said cam surfaces, and being adapted to be driven by said drive pinion, and a manually-controlled pin alternately contacting the cam surfaces of said yoke, whereby said yoke and its connecting means is held in an inoperative position with respect to said drive pinion.

3. In a mechanism of the class described, the combination of a drive pinion provided with a plurality of pin-receiving apertures, a sleeve provided with a driven member at one side of said drive pinion, a control yoke straddling said sleeve v and being pivotally mounted thereon, said control yoke provided at its ends with oppositely facing cam surfaces, a spring between said control yoke and said driven member and exerting pressure upon one end of said control yoke, a supportingpin pivotally mounted-at itsinner end on the sides of said control yoke, a locking-pin extending through said driven member and secured at its inner end upon said supporting-pin, said locking pin being normally urged by said spring into a pin-receivingaperture of the drive pinion, a control bar contiguous tosaid control yoke, said control bar provided with an upstanding-pin, said upstanding-pin adapted to be engaged alternately on its right side by one cam surface and on its left side by the other cam surface, whereby said locking-pin is withdrawn from said drive pinion, and manually-operated means connected to said control bar towithdraw the upstandingpin from the engaged cam surface.

HARRY 1''. LA RUE. 

